Welcome to the blog and bookstore of small Indie Publisher Quintessence Publications from New Zealand.
We publish exciting books: Fiction and non-fiction. Mystery, Erotica, SteamPunk Fantasy, Romance, Sci-fi, Comedy and Parody. Novels and Shorts.
Enjoy the selection of extracts in this blog and tell us what you think of our offerings.
Please Note: We tend to write in our native NZ English as that is the language we know and understand best. Please forgive any differences.

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Tuesday, 6 October 2015

I realize a lot of readers love series novels. The longer the series the better ... sometimes. It's so disappointing when you read a series and find that the quality of the books deteriorates the further into the series you get.
My feeling is that there are a lot of stand-alone novels which are great reading and we have published some. I am going to blog about them over the next month.

My three romance novels published by Penguin 15 years before 50 Shades of anything was popular. They weren't a series because the publisher didn't want a series.

"Read this is if you like sexy arousing, disturbing, female oriented, true to the the emotions fiction. The writer is awesome so please look her up. The fact is this was just so close to the truth for me. I know those emotions, I have felt them and lived them. You can read this book if you are either shallow or strong, but i recommend it to anyone who has lived, laughed, loved and suffered." Kindle review

"I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone looking for a spicy read that has a decent story line." Kindle review

"This book delivers the same steamy style that Harlequin romance was once famous for. Good sexy scenes wrapped up in a dramatic story told from a woman's point of view. I bought this for my girlfriend and she loved it so much she bought the other 2 novels by this author. Good reading for a plane ride or a Sunday afternoon." Kindle review

I'm sure you will enjoy these novels, for a long time they were best selling books in New Zealand and Australia. There are various cover versions around and Avocado is perma-free on Smashwords and in the Ibookstore.

What I learned
about comedy writing from John Cleese,

the Big Cheese of British Comedy

While Cleese's book isn't a guide on how to write an autobiography or how to have successful relationships it contains some marvellous gems about
writing comedy which I would like to share with you.

In professional writing he encourages:- ‘If you kept at it, material would always emerge; a bad
day would be followed by a decent one, and somehow an acceptable average would
be forthcoming.’

‘Always put the
key funny word in a sentence at the end of it, as this will give it maximum
impact.’ Hmmm worth reviewing our sentences in the light of this observation.

State of mind in
writing comedy is important too and I read with delight the obvious - to those
who have suffered from this - ‘The more anxious you feel, the less creative you
are.’

Cleese’s Two Rules of
Writing Comedy.

‘First rule: get your
panic in early. Fear gives you energy, so make sure you have plenty of time to
use that energy.

Second Rule: your
thoughts follow your mood. Anxiety produces anxious thoughts; sadness begets
sad thoughts; anger, angry thoughts; so aim to be in a relaxed playful mood
when you try to be funny.’

Yet what is truly
funny? John Cleese worked on a lot of projects in radio, TV and film. The groups he worked with created what became famous comedies with varying types of humour.

It’s fascinating
and frustrating when he says ‘We all felt that about twenty percent of the show
was comparatively weak, but there was constant disagreement about which twenty
per cent that was.’ - huh.

So professional actors and comedy writers can’t agree
on what is the most funny - and what is the most fail - what hope do we, as beginning comedy writers, have of truly being humorous?

Sense of humour
differs markedly from person to person. While in an audience we may be carried
away by the laughter of people around us laughing; yet sitting alone in front
of the TV or a movie we might laugh somewhere different in the story.

This is
why I find ‘canned laughter' false and weird. It’s being commanded by an audience to laugh where it’s not natural for me to laugh. I don’t
respond well to that kind of push. Other people like to feel they are laughing with the crowd. Incidentally the
history of ‘canned laughter’ is an interesting one and here's where you can find out all
about it Canned Laughter History

AJ Burton and I have
spent a lot of time over the past two years crafting ‘The Hoodle’ a werewolf
parody. When there’s just the two of you on your own laughing like loons
over jokes of your own devising you really don’t know if anyone else will share
the joke.

Like John C, AJ has
done most of the actual physical writing of this novel; but, without having myself and others to bounce his jokes off and create situations which we deemed hilarious (as
John Cleese did with his long term writing partner Gra - Graham Chapman) - the book would have been a weaker parody,
less confident, with fewer characters and situations.

The simple truth is,
as can be seen in the credits of any comedy, a comedy partner or team will
devise insanely funny ideas together, which one person on their own could never
do.

I don’t feel we wasted the many pleasant hours we argued, laughed, drank bottomless
coffee, building jokes as wobbly as Jenga castles and doing our best to write them
down to create the hilarious antics of Jake and Hemi as they try to destroy The
Dog Who Must Not Be Named, before he destroys them and their friends.
Contact us for help with your comedy writing or publishing on Skype
ChristineLeovLealand or email quintessence.publications *at* gmail.com

Thursday, 12 March 2015

This video excerpt from LOTR sums up what writing feels like to me. It's messy and cozy, you are writing about what you love, you get interrupted. The help you rely upon isn't really helpful. Once the book is done, you have achieved something amazing but then what do you do?
Have one or two people read it, as those few friends and family read Bilbo's There and Back Again - or do you want more people to read your work? Maybe make the writing available so as many people as read Lord of the Rings could read your book?
If you would like that and know you need help - talk to me.QP Publishing Coaching is my contact.
My team and I can provide you with solutions which will delight you, won't cost the earth and will help you get you writing career out of The Shire and into the Wide World where other people who are just dying to read your stories are waiting to find your book.
PS. I live only one hour from Hobbiton.

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Hand made books are on my mind and this post shares some links to hand made book sites that I really like.

I was eight years old when my mother taught me how to sew folded pages into a book. I then sewed a cover for the book from cardboard covered with my favourite fabric. The book was then filled with my pencil handwriting - I wrote a precis of the book, A Horse and his Boy by C S Lewis - then my favourite book.

Today there are wonderful papers, threads, cover fabrics and paints, hot glues and findings which mean that anyone wanting to make their own books has a lot of help - yet there are books hundreds of years old which were made only with natural materials of cloth, paper, leather and animal glue.

Why bind books by hand?
Printed books where the covers have deteriorated can be given durable covers - Aren't there some wonderful books in paperback that fall apart so quickly? They can be saved by binding with hand made board, cloth or leather covers.
Binding your own books is a very satisfying hobby and can make you money.
Hand made blank journals are a delicious treat to write poems, experiences, stories and thoughts in - something for your grand-children to inherit.

Pinterest has amazing information and images check out THIS for
just a little taste.

Teo Studio make hand made books of a high quality with leather covers. I chose them at random - as excellent practitioners of the book binder's art.

Leather is wonderful. I've got a Kobo with a leather cover, how delicious it is to hold - and via smart technology the cover turns the device on and off when I open and close the cover.
Leather bound books are just as lovely as an ebook reader, whether the book is an old classic you have printed by Createspace.com and then bind a leather cover on yourself, or a book you wrote that you bind, or have bound; all leather bound books are precious.

Etsy.com is a terrific place to buy hand made books and journals. You could buy a different item for every one of your friends and family and still have more to discover.
OM - meditation book.
NB some links will expire as the books are sold.

Do you own a hand made/hand bound book? Would you like to?
Have you made your own bound book?

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About Me

Christine Leov Lealand is an author and publisher. Her Best Selling Romance novels have sold over 40,000 copies in the Antipodes.
A keen 'prepper' and ‘burner’ (Burning Man) Christine loves the outdoors, is a blue water sailor, historian, belly dancer, adventurer and lifelong reader. At five years old she decided she was a writer.
Christine is CEO of Quintessence Publications and finds it takes up all of her time.
Too frequently she has to stop editing, writing and book cover buying to hurriedly feed her husband, three black cats: Zulu, Polly and Jumbo the cats and three fat chickens. @loveleov on Twitter